Abstract [en]

The purpose of the study was to examine how young adults reason about mental health and mental illness and what they do to promote their own mental health. Their answers were then analyzed from a gender theoretical perspective. The study has been accomplished through a qualitative research method in the form of focus group interviews with young adults. The analysis of the collected data was done through inductive approach with inspiration from the hermeneutic methodology. The young adults in the study thought of mental health as something a person can feel, do and promote, and something that doesn’t have to prioritized if they don’t want to. School as an institution was seen as one of the major things that influenced their mental health. Women’s mental health is often what is highlighted in the media and the young adults way of reasoning about mental health seemed to be influenced by this fact. The young adults thought that young women were the ones suffering the most from society’s stereotypical gender roles. The health of young women was thought of as having a direct connection to how they handled society’s beauty standards. The young adults’ way of reasoning reflected the ideas that exist in society today regarding gender equality in that men and women are relatively equal. The young adults also have knowledge about the complexity of problems that are associated with gender equality.